The new Google TV user interface was developed with one goal in mind: to make content on Android TV devices more personal and easy to find. For years, the Android TV interface has offered a boring yet coherent interface that consists of content divided into lines. You can always customize this user interface on the home screen, but never personalize it for content recommendations.
As streaming services like Netflix revamped their personalization algorithms over the years, Android TV's user interface looked increasingly outdated. The increasingly fragmented state of streaming doesn't help either. With so many services, it's often difficult to find the shows or movies you want without searching through several different apps.
Enter Google TV - a Google-powered UX based on Android TV - with the new For You tab that recommends movies and TV shows that Google you like. Launched with the aptly named Chromecast with Google TV, the company describes its new streaming experience as "entertainment you love with a little help from Google". But what's the use of Google TV's personalization features if they're only for one person?
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Not everyone lives alone, Google
As mentioned in a recent Reddit thread, Google TV in its current form doesn't support user profiles. This means that only one person can get personalized content recommendations on Google TV, unlike services like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, where you can switch to different user profiles. This would usually be an unfair comparison as Google TV is essentially an aggregator rather than a standalone streaming service. However, the idea that Google adopted for its new user interface is largely the same as what we would expect from a dedicated streaming platform. So it would be fair to expect some feature parity.
With that in mind, adding personalization to the UI is great, but Google forgot that more than one person can (and in most cases, can) watch content on an Android TV.
In the meantime, Google TV added a deceptive profile icon to the home screen. You would think it was supposed to add someone else's profile but you would be wrong. This profile icon allows you to load a different Google Account when you access apps that require you to switch accounts. It doesn't affect any change in the overall user interface or the recommendations you get. So if you were hoping to set up a separate account for your children or anyone other than you, you can't.
Google TV is personal, but only for one person.
Personalization in Google TV doesn't end with the For You tab either. The platform also allows you to add content from various services to a watch list that you can access later. This watch list is synchronized with the Google search. If you can find a streaming title there, you can tap a button and add it to your Google TV watchlist. Oh! This function cannot be used by multiple users.
In addition, Google recognizes that there is no way to switch accounts for YouTube or YouTube TV directly. This means you won't even be able to use live custom YouTube TV guides. To access a different YouTube or YouTube TV account, you will need to manually sign out of the current user and sign in to the apps again with a different account. Imagine having to do this several times a day.
Smaller functions like loading custom screen savers from your Google Photos albums are also limited to a single user.
People are not happy
Many early adopters of the new Chromecast with Google TV are annoyed with Google for rightly not adding a function to switch profiles. The whole point of personalization is that multiple users can take advantage of it.
"Now all recommendations for my account are influenced by my wife when she searches for something. There is no way for them to watch their shows on their DVR account on YouTube TV, "writes a disgruntled user on the Chromecast support forums.
A Redditor suggests that Google should be asked to select a profile every time the TV is turned on. For example when you use your computer. "
Google's approach to profile switching on Android TV has been historically bad.
Another user points out: "Google TV is based on Android TV. Unfortunately, I doubt it will happen. It's been six years and they haven't added a feature that is standard on all competitors. "
The last comment is interesting as Google's entire approach to profile switching on Android TV has historically been poor. You can switch Google accounts on an Android TV, but only to access a different email address in apps like the Google Play Store, Play Games, etc.
Why couldn't Google just take the account switching feature from its mobile operating system and implement it on Android TV? Flipping shouldn't have taken a lot of work, and even if it had, something so basic could have been thought of as a personalized service before it was implemented.
Maybe Google will add it in a future update, but right now it's sad to see that Google TV is doing nothing to address this longstanding problem. However, Google isn't the only streaming hardware maker to have made this mistake.
Google is not alone
With all Hullabaloo about the lack of account switching on the new Google TV platform, it should be noted that most of the competitors don't support this feature.
The Amazon Fire TV Stick also has a watchlist and recommended content section, but is tied to a single Amazon account. The only way to get personalized recommendations for the Fire TV Stick is to log out the installed user's account and add a new one. However, you can easily switch profiles within the Prime Video app, so that at least Amazon's streaming service, unlike YouTube on Google TV, supports the simple switching of accounts on its hardware.
Roku has the same problem and won't let users set up multiple profiles on one device.
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Apple TV is the only streaming hardware that uses an easy way to switch between user accounts. With tvOS 13, Apple introduced multi-user support that gives customers access to their own settings, Up Next lists, TV shows, movies, music and recommendations. Not only does this give Apple TV users a personalized experience, but it also allows them to access purchased content from another user's profile by simply switching to it.
Perhaps Google and the others could borrow a sheet of Apple's Playbook when it comes to personalizing multiple accounts for streaming hardware. For now, don't be fooled by all of the custom recommendations marketing collateral on Google TV. This isn't the ultimate solution to streaming fragmentation if you also share a TV with friends and family.
What makes this even worse is that Google has the resources to create an algorithm that will drive the new Google TV personalization smarts for different users. It just hasn't done it yet. Until then, Google TV is personal, but only for one person.